Kaleidoscope (2011)

This is an installation about the experience of photography. I found that by reversing the direction of light, I can throw and focus the inner image of a Kaleidoscope onto a wall. The system is connected to a rotating motor which speed can be controlled (or stopped) by the audience.

During the rotation, if one notices a good pattern and wants to freeze the image, he can never stop the rotation exactly at that very moment — just like pressing a camera shutter, one can never capture the exact moment that strikes the mind. The device is a morphed camera: the wall is the film, the control knob is the shutter, the rotation is time, and the world is inside the kaleidoscope.

The world comprises vision and sound. Collaborating with composer I-lly Cheng, I extract the sound inside the rotating kaleidoscope and feed it into a computer. The sound is calculated in real time by designed patches using MaxMsp software. The speakers output the resulting sound (also in real time). The microphone also picks up ambient sound; thus the entire room is within the interactive sound field.